1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microscope technology, and more specifically to the technology of acquiring a sample image by shooting a scaled up image of a sample obtained by a microscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the widespread use of a high-performance digital camera, a digital camera can be directly connected to a microscope to shoot a scaled up image of a sample. In this case, the digital camera is connected to an external control device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a “PC”) to mainly control the operation a digital camera and the shooting using the digital camera.
For example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2002-350741 discloses the technology of shooting a scaled up image of a sample using a digital camera directly connected to a microscope under the control of an external control device such as a PC etc. The digital camera has a camera head as a shooting device, and is connected to an operation unit such as a PC etc. provided with a control unit of a camera via a cable. The digital camera is connected to an image display device such as a display unit etc. via a cable to display a shot image. The digital camera can record acquired shot images on a hard disk in a PC or a record medium connected to an operation unit of a memory card etc. In the digital camera, a control unit of a camera head is provided only in the operation unit. Therefore, an observer operates both microscope and digital camera to shoot a scaled up image of a sample and record a sample image.